Bear Killed in German Zoo After it Escapes from Compound

The bear, called Taps, was one of the zoo's attractions, a so-called cappuccino bear — with a polar bear and a brown bear as parents

The entrance to the zoo in Osnabruech, Germany, Saturday, March 11 , 2017. A bear has been killed after it escaped from its enclosure from a zoo in the northern German town of Osnabrueck. The German news agency dpa reported the bear was shot dead by zoo personnel and all visitors were temporarily evacuated on Saturday. The head of the zoo, Andreas Busemann, said that, “We reacted immediately with our team, and in order to protect the visitors, we had to shoot him.” (Friso Gentsch/dpa via AP), photo: AP/Friso Gentsch

BERLIN — A bear has been killed after it escaped from its enclosure at a zoo in the northern German town of Osnabrueck.The German news agency dpa reported the bear was shot by zoo personnel and all visitors were temporarily evacuated on Saturday.[caption id="attachment_51538" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] The German news agency dpa reported the bear was shot dead by zoo personnel and all visitors were temporarily evacuated on Saturday. The head of the zoo, Andreas Busemann, said that, “We reacted immediately with our team, and in order to protect the visitors, we had to shoot him.” Photo: AP/Festim Beqiri[/caption]The head of the zoo, Andreas Busemann, said that, "We reacted immediately with our team, and in order to protect the visitors, we had to shoot him."Busemann said the bear, called Taps, was one of the zoo's attractions, a so-called cappuccino bear — with a polar bear and a brown bear as parents.He said it wasn't clear how the animal had managed to escape from the compound, but that police were investigating.